European On The Row

This place is decent at best. There used to be a different pop up stand that was in this exact location that served the most amazing gyros and cheesesteaks. I guess they closed shop and this one took it’s place.
The place before this was my go-​to place after a drunken night at Rosies, Sino, or Blowfish (bars in the area). I mean when i tried it drunk out of my mind, it was absolutely delicious. The fries and shwarma was on point.
I was in the area doing some shopping the other day at Valleyfair and decided to go here again, sober. Got the same items, fries and the shwarma and everything seemed… mediocre. So I guess if you have the drunk munchies come here, otherwise skip it.

Came here on a whim. Food was ok, nothing to go crazy about. My gyros was cold and the masala tasted like tomato sauce. I think I would have been better off going to falafel drive in. Owner didn’t seem to welcoming either.

I don’t usually give one star to business but this one deserves less than one star if I can give it to them.
I was at Santana Row and decided to get a chicken shawerma from here… Here is why is why one stay:
–I had to go behind the cart to get some help because the guy was busy cooking some other food. I understand he was busy but don’t just look at me without acknowledging me!
–Waited for 20 minutes to get my food (mind you, we have a restaurant and it should never take 20 minutes to make one wrap when you have no other orders)
–There was curry in with the chicken shawerma!!! Since when curry is part of the chicken shawerma? !it was so nasty. took one bite and threw it away…
If you want AUTHENTIC food, look else where.

I can’t tell if the worker was new, but there was all sorts of big big problems.
I waited patiently for 8 minutes until he came to the counter. Apparently he was working on someone else’s order. When he greeted me he apologized for the wait, but he is still working on someone’s order. I wait again for 3 more minutes and he finally takes my order.
I order a shawarma with no tomatoes. «It will be about 10 minutes.» Wow. that’s a long time, but ok. I tell him I’ll go to shopping for 10 min and come back. «Ok, I’ll be making fresh meat for you. You have the time right?» Odd comment…
After I return 15 min later, he greets me and lets me know «Actually, we are all out of shawarma meat. Do you want chicken meat?» WOW, all that time waiting and he doesn’t even know what resources he has available to him.
I ask for a gyro instead, it is the same price, should be easy.
I wait another 6 minutes for him to make it (I thought this was fast food?).
He hands me a container and I think to ask him «This doesn’t have tomatoes right?»
«Oh crap» he says. He then offers to remake the food.
I wait again for another 4 minutes and he gives me a tomato-​less version.
I leave as fast as I can and when I finally get to eating my food, I realize… he didn’t even make me a gyro!!!
This is the chicken meat her mentioned earlier? What the heck? ? ?
To make it all worse, it did not taste very good at all.
Summary:
One of the most dysfunctional and incompetent customer experiences I have ever seen. Total wait time almost 40 min and result: terrible and incorrect food.

Umm this place is just okay. It wasn’t that busy when I went and it still took forever to get my food to me. I ordered a chicken Shwarma with fries and waited about 10 mins and I was the only customer they had lol. At least the food was very tasty, but I hated that it couldn’t stay together. The wrap turned into a regular Shwarma plate lol.
The service is not so great. Those guys are really not that helpful and will not make you feel at home. Some patron walked up asking where left bank restaurant was and all the cashier said was «the directory is over there.» So yeah, not sure how to feel about that. I kinda get a big arrogance with the employees there. Not sure I would go back since there are plenty of Mediterranean cuisine restaurants in San Jose. Minus 1 star for the service.

The small cart standing next to The counter burger in Santana Row wont grab much attention unless you go and try chicken shawarma. I ordered the hot one, the spice was perfectly blended and it was delicious, perhaps more than what I expected.
At the end, my friend suggested me to try the Mango Lassi, believe or not, it was much much better than so many places I tried in downtown.
I would definitely recommend the chicken shawarma and the lassi at this place. I would love to visit again.

These guys are awesome. They take care of you… Great late night place. Get the Gyro.

friend: hotdog with nothing
owner gives him hotdog with everything
friend: i ordered it with nothing.
owner: so what you want me to make another one?
friend: yes
so he spits in the food.

I mistakenly thought this was Falafel on the Row (or whatever it was called) which I loved. I ordered a shawerma and it was the worst one I’ve ever had in my life. It was awfully prepared… almost fell apart in my hands even though it was wrapped in paper. The worst thing about it was it was cold. Like the guy just took leftovers from a container in the fridge and put it right on the the lavash without heating it up first. But I was hungry and ate it anyway. Afterwords I thought for sure I would get food poisoning and thank god that didn’t happen.

Okay, my bf and I came back again but this time we brought a bunch of friends too. I ordered the same thing: teriyaki chicken… It was completely different than the first time I tried it, and not in a good way. It was also two different guys working the kiosk – so I guess the cooks have different recipes??? I’ll probably give em another try though – but only if the original cook is there.

They came by the eBay campus in an unmarked red truck. I only know this is the right business because the texted credit card receipt says «European on the Row.»
The menu is hard to read, just pictures with numbers next to them, and some of the numbers are rubbed out. A few have abbreviated keywords («ckn,» «veg,» etc.) that don’t always match the pictures.
A little background: eBay, Inc. owns PayPal. The truck has a PayPal Here sticker on it. Essentially, PayPal Here is a device you plug into your iPhone that lets you accept credit cards. So seeing the sticker, I decided to order from them. Well, guess how he processed my credit card. With Square! That’s pretty ballsy on the eBay campus.
The food itself? I was worried when I ordered a burrito, and it came in a styrofoam container. Well, it is because it was cut in half. WRAPS are cut in half. Burritos are delivered whole, hopefully wrapped in foil. (Wraps aren’t wrapped but burritos are? Hey, I don’t make the rules.)
Truck food can be so good that you don’t need to settle for these guys.

The pictures of food for this little food cart do not do it justice! I was in an indecisive mood and none of the pictures were really tempting. So… when in doubt, I always ask the staff what their favorite thing on the menu is. He recommended the chicken schwarma and the gyro.
I got the schwarma and my coworker got the gyro. I chose the schwarma because it looked slightly healthier. It had vegetables peeking out! That’s healthy. Anyway, to my delight (and love of fries), there were fries in the bottom of the schwarma. I learned from another customer that this was the «european» way. Fitting as this cart is called European on the Row. (Hmm…I just said that out loud in my head… kind of a funny name that appeals to my juvenile sense of humor… hehehehe)
Anyway…it was delicious! The chicken was flavored really well and with a delicate hint of lemongrass. It was very moist. The schwarma was a little hard to handle so I ended up using a fork. Very tasty and the fries were crispy and so good. It gets my stamp for excellent fries.
The gyro was also good (my coworker let me snag a bite) but I preferred the schwarma. The side of garlic fries was also tasty.
It was a little pricey for lunch… but may be worth it for the people watching at the Row.
Definitely coming back here for the schwarma! And the really nice customer service.

Unfortunately this is a waste of a prime location. I tried their paneer wrap and falafel. The wrap was bland, unflavorful and uncooked. It was more of a mexican burrito than a paneer wrap. The falafel wasn’t great either. The owner is a nice guy, but this needs a menu overhaul!

Kiosk/​Food Cart in the streets of Santana Row.
Had the falafel with veggie-​like meat inside, tossed in with some tomatoes, onions, pickles, fries (fries? yeap, fries). Granted I’ve never had falafel before, my boss said it’s delicious, I believe her.
2 bottles of sprite costs $ 4.31– convenience fee for being located outside and easy to pick up a snack or two.
they do take card here, you get to sign a lovely iPad for a card purchase.

It’s not bad for Food Cart/​Stand.
I ordered the Shawarma and the samosas. The shawarma was pretty tasty. The disappointing thing about it is the portion. Definitely not worth the price. The samosas didn’t have the traditional type of wrap. It was super crispy like a chinese egg roll. They tasted pretty oily… I’ve had better =T
I wouldn’t recommend it for the price. The food was pretty good… just small.

Not seeing many European style eats here. Used to be a hot dog stand. However they did offer Cevapi which is a Croatian/​Bosnian/​Herzagovian dish. If you look really carefully though, it’s a picture of the box of Cevapi you can buy at Croatian markets. Cooked decently though and they give you bread and salad. There’s stuff from all over the middle east and Indian too I think. When I looked at my credit card, they are the folks who run the Salma K food truck.

came with my tastebuds salivating for a Gyro from «falafel on the row» only to find an entire new managment team. All I can say is BRING BACK FALAFEL ON THE ROW or @ least tell me where their new location is?
Food is edible but the workers are really friendly. Never seen Ethiopian workers cook Mediterranean food before.

i walked down the other day to grab lunch at one of my favorite spots on The Row… Falafel On The Row…
i was disappointed to see that my favorite cart/​food stand was no longer there… and instead there was a different cart/​stand called European On The Row…
i looked at the pictures that they had up and it seemed like most of the food pics were that of an «international» faire… pictures of shawarmas, falafels, hot dogs, chicken biryani, and lamb/​beef skewers… a little bit of everything including chips and sodas as well…
ended up getting the chicken biryani and some other chicken that was an unusual bright crimson red, and according to the owner… tasted amazing…
the chicken biryani came in a bowl… a huge bowl at that… one piece of chicken sat underneath a pile of warm biryani dirty rice… the dish wasnt half bad… but it definitely wasnt to die for as well…
the neon crimson red chicken was bits of dark chicken that was either soaked in some type of brine or vinegar, then cooked again… the flavor was «different» but a bit addictive to eat… that is, as long as you dont get scared off by the initial color of it (in hindsight, it looked like char siu pork from a chinese restaurant)
price wise definitely a little more expensive than the old Falafel On The Row cart/​stand, but this place definitely has more menu items and bigger portions for the food too…
the one drawback is that the food seems to take a little bit longer to prepare… the old Falafel cart/​stand was completely transparent… you could see thru to the guys making the food and you could see exactly what was going on back there… the new European On The Row cart/​stand seems like the same setup, BUT the old see thru window is covered up with aluminum foil, so you cant see what anyones doing back there… makes me nervous… especially with how neon red their chicken dish came out… how did they do that???